Today’s youngest cardinal is Mafi from Tonga, created in February 2015. He is 53 — turning 54 in December.

Mafi ALREADY is older than the ten youngest popes since 1400! Here is my list (from this 2010 post).

So Mafi, THE youngest, is plenty old enough to be a ‘modern’ pope.

That is basically the issue today when it comes to how young a pope could be. UNLESS the electors, for inescapable reasons, decide to go with a non-cardinal, any papabile is BOUND to be plenty old enough. Any under-80 cardinal, unless there is an explicit papal dispensation, has to be a Bishop to be created. You need to be 35 years old to be a bishop. 35 is plenty old enough.

So that is the deal. Here is a list, from my new Excel spreadsheet of the current crop of youngest cardinals. A few of them, Lacroix, Tagle, Parolin, Erdö and Koch could be considered papabili. They are ALL plenty old enough. OK?

++++ Please scroll down for other posts. I don’t have the time and space to show all the links.

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Yes, the 2nd Kindle book in 4 days, but this is the last. In this ebook I included 15 FAQs: the ones most asked of me. Also provide a list of all the ‘officers’ for the 2013 conclave plus their duties. Yes, some of the content is borrowed from ‘The Next Pope 2011‘. As with ‘The Last 9 Conclaves: 1903 to 2005’ the express intent of this ebook is to provide electronic content for those that was reference matter on their Smart Phones or Pads — given that the ‘The Next Pope 2011‘ is not available electronically, and will not be available electronically. I priced it to coincide with the correct sequence number of the new pope: #267; hence U.S. $2.67.

Kind of funny, in a sad way, to papal historians like me. Another well known pope to resign: not once BUT twice. Benedict ‘3-term’ IX (#146, #148 & #151). This will blacken the name ‘Benedict’ for a long time.

So what do you call an ex-pope, other than ‘loser’? He can’t carry on being Benedict XVI. That was his papal name. He has to Ratzinger. But, what Ratzinger. Pope Emeritus Ratzinger?

Where will he live. Rome? Italy? Germany? Elba? Or will he move to the U.S.?

Yes, I am a cynic. Benedict IX resigned for the first time BECAUSE he, around 25 at the time, wanted to get married. Will Benedict finally marry Ingrid Stampa?

What will the ex-Pope do during the conclave? Will he attend the inauguration?

Why did he spurn God’s will? When 6 year olds get killed everybody says ‘God’s Will’, they are going home to God. So what about the pope. Didn’t God just want to ask him to come home? This to me violates God’s will.

The pope should NOT have resigned. Yes, of course, he had the right and he had talked about it. John Paul II did NOT resign. He braved it out till the end and let God make the call. My Queen will do the same. She has said she will not abdicate. She was given the job — for life.

That Benedict XVI resigned finally confirmed my refrain of the last 18 months. He was a weak pope. GROBR. The timing of his resignation is clear. He wanted to make sure his buddy Kasper can be an elector. He turns 80 on March 5 but will be eligible because he was under 80 when the pope resigned.

My top 5:

#1 (tied): Lord Bertone

#1 (tied): Marc Ouellet

#3: Lord Tettamanzi

#4: Angelo Scola

#5: Lord Schonborn

Fat pope, followed by thin pope. Old pope followed by young pope.

Weak pope followed by Lord Bertone. QED.

Ouellet ONLY if papal resignation now become accepted as the norm.

German pope soured it for other non-Italians. So that will weigh against both Ouellet and Schonborn.

Next pope WILL NOT be American. Next pope will be white.

Popes and Papacy inundated. We have upgraded the server 4 times. GoDaddy, where it is hosted, as been outstanding. So be patient on main blog. Thanks.

There is chatter that there will be a consistory on Saturday, November 30, 2010, at the start of the ‘Christ the King Weekend,’ for the creation a new batch of cardinals. Check this << post >>.

The latest thinking, as of Sept. 6, 2010, as to who the new cardinals may be, i.e., the so called cardinalabili, can be found << here >>.

On Sept. 9, 2010, I pointed out that a November 2010 (or for that matter a December 2010) cardinal creating consistory only makes sense if the pope is willing to exceed the current, totally arbitrary and artificial, 120 cardinal elector limit. You can read that << here >>

There is also a new papabili list, the third of its kind. You can find that << here >>

Per the 1983 Code of Canon Law Canons 354 & 401, heads of curial dicasteries and diocesan bishops must tender their resignations to the pope upon completing their seventy-fifth year of life.

That Cardinal Re (senior most cardinal bishop under 80) was due to retire per ‘401, ‘ and was likely to be replaced by my #3 papabili (as of December 2009), Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S., was already talked about here on June 18, 2010, thanks to the heads-up from my cardinal & bishop watched, John Stabeno, ‘an insider’ of sorts [[smile]]. I have a write-up of Marc Ouellet on page 17 – 18 of ‘The Next Pope‘. If you are interested use Google Books or Amazon to read the pages given that I assume you don’t have the book. This is a big deal for Canada. Ouellet, a Sulpician, is on the editorial board of Communio, a theological review founded in 1972, with the current pope being one of the founders.

This is the fourth resignation in 11 days. Much of this has to do with the rapidly approaching Summer ‘recces’ for the pope — who leaves the heat of Rome in July and heads to the cooler climes of Castel Gandolfo for the Summer. Basically the Vatican is trying to get appointments in place prior to the recces.

Cardinal Re’s resignation and Cardinal Ouellet’s appointment yet AGAIN ONLY changes the employment status statistics pertaining to the College; i.e., we now have one more retired cardinal, one less Archbishop and the demographics of the curial heads change.

If nothing else changes prior to that, we will lose another cardinal elector on July 7, 2010.

You should also, please, check out THIS posting on the current vacancies when it comes to cardinalate title.

I am just going to update the demographics of the 108 cardinal electors to reflect today’s [i.e., June 30, 2010] changes: